An ad hoc committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will review the evidence regarding long-term disability that may result from COVID-19 illness and produce a report addressing the current status of the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of related disabilities based on published evidence (to the extent possible) and professional judgement (where evidence is lacking). In regards to the long-term health effects stemming from COVID-19 infection, the committee’s report will strive to:
1. Identify the committee’s preferred terminology (e.g., Long COVID, PASC, PACS, Post-COVID Syndrome, Long Haulers Syndrome);
2. Describe commonly reported and observed long-term health effects and describe what is known about:
a. The frequency and distribution of their severity and duration in the general population, as well as any differences along racial, ethnic, sex, gender, geographic, or socioeconomic dimensions, or differences specific to populations with particular pre-existing or comorbid conditions;
b. Clinical standards for diagnosis and measurement of the specific health effects or identified patterns or clusters of health effects;
c. Any special considerations regarding the health effects’ identification and management in special populations including pregnant people and those with underlying health conditions;
d. Best practices to quantify the functional impacts of those health effects; and
e. Identified challenges for clinicians in evaluating persons with those health effects;
3. Identify and describe the tests, findings, and signs currently clinically accepted to establish a history of COVID-19 in the following three categories:
a. Tests for SARS-CoV-2;
b. Findings from antibody tests or other diagnostic tests; and
c. Signs consistent with COVID-19;
4. Identify any methods generally accepted by the medical community to establish a history of COVID-19 in patients that are not covered by the following three categories:
a. A report of a positive viral test for SARS-CoV-2,
b. A diagnostic test with findings consistent with COVID-19 (e.g., chest x-ray with lung abnormalities, etc.), or
c. A diagnosis of COVID-19 based on signs consistent with COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, etc.);
5. Identify patterns of long-term, work-related functional decline observed in adults and the frequency, severity, duration, risk factors, and associated signs or laboratory findings;
6. Identify distinct patterns of long-term functional decline observed in children and the frequency, severity, duration, risk factors, and associated signs or laboratory findings;
7. Identify any trends in the frequency, severity, and duration of functional decline, including those specific to different racial, ethnic, sex, gender, geographic, or socioeconomic groups and those specific to populations with particular pre-existing or comorbid conditions;
8. Describe any variations in functional or long-term effects based on initial infection with the various identified strains of the virus or based on vaccination status, both at the time of initial infection and illness or that are long-lasting; and
9. Summarize completed, on-going, or planned research, and any resultant medical knowledge, regarding similarities between this condition and impairments such as fibromyalgia or myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome), including mechanisms of action, effective testing regimes, prognosis and progression, and potential treatments.
10. Summarize the committee’s conclusions regarding best practices for assessing disability in these populations.
The report will include findings and conclusions but not recommendations.